COMMERCE CITY – There is a chance forward Omar Cummings could return to the starting XI when the Rapids play again, against Portland at home on June 30.

But no decision has been made yet, Rapids coach Oscar Pareja said.

“We are getting him time this week with the team,” Pareja said. “I always say it’s difficult when guys come from the training room. What we are doing this week is just trying to work Omar within the group to see the possibilities that he has.”

Cummings, who has three goals this season, returned from a sprained ankle in last Wednesday’s loss to San Jose, entering the game in the 67th minute to play the final 23 minutes. He did not get a shot on goal in his time on the field.

COMMERCE CITY — League play doesn’t resume until June 16 for the Colorado Rapids — and that, says coach Oscar Pareja, might be just enough time to get nearly every injured player back in uniform.

Forwards Conor Casey (hamstring) and Omar Cummings (ankle), and midfielders Jaime Smith (ACL) and Brian Mullan (knee) are all closing in on a return to the pitch for the Rapids when they resume MLS play at Vancouver in 11 days.

“Omar is close,” Pareja said. “Omar is just doing now more natural movement and more aggressive drills. I think we will have a good chance to have Omar back that day. The same with Conor and Jaime Smith and Mullan as well. They’re close.”

Pareja noted defender Marvell Wynne (hamstring) has a chance to return by June 16, but at this point it appears to be a bit of a long shot.

The Rapids' Jeff Larentowicz, left, tries to steal the ball from Julio Cesar of Sporting Kansas City during a game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on May 19, 2012.

Don’t look for any Lamborghinis in the player parking lot at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, and kids, take a look at the list below before you ditch your math homework for a career in pro soccer.

The Major League Soccer Players Union has just released the 2012 salaries for every player on an MLS roster, and, given the short careers enjoyed by most professional athletes, no one outside of New York or Los Angeles is really rolling in dough.

Conor Casey, at $400,000 a year, is the only Rapids player among the league’s 25 highest paid. The bulk of the Rapids roster is paid much more like the fans in the seats than, say, a Bronco, Nugget, Rocky or Av.

The league’s highest paid player is Thierry Henry of New York at $5.6 million per year, when base salary and signing bonus are figured in, followed by his teammate Rafa Marquez at $4.6 million and David Beckham of LA Galaxy at $4 million. Only four players outside of those two cities earn seven-figure salaries, and all of them are in Toronto or Portland. (It’s unclear whether the Canadian salaries are in Canadian dollars).

Kosuke Kimura was back on the Rapids backline Saturday against Sporting K.C. -- and he scored.

This installment of Rapids player ratings come courtesy of Craig de Aragon, a longtime Rapids fan, committee member with the Class VI supporters group and current Rapids correspondent on the “Around The League” show on the Champions Soccer Radio Network:

I spent Saturday morning sitting in a classroom learning how to do CPR and First Aid. After giving up two goals to Sporting Kansas City in the first 14 minutes of the game, I thought I was going to have to use my newly acquired skills to revive the fledgling, flat-lining Rapids team.

Fortunately, that was unnecessary, as the make-shift backline was able to figure things out. They not only held Sporting Kansas City scoreless for the rest of the game, but they scored both goals to give the Rapids a much needed draw and point.

Without regular starters Omar Cummings, Marvell Wynne, Pablo Mastroeni and Brian Mullan, Rapids coach Oscar Pareja gave us much to discuss with his curious starting line up decisions.

Even with Conor Casey back in the starting lineup, the Rapids struggled again on the road.

This installment of Rapids player ratings brought to you by Andrew Villegas, a Colorado-native journalist based in Washington, D.C., who also writes for the blog The Yanks Are Coming Find Andrew on Twitter @ReporterAndrew.

Having 10 days off can do one of two things to a club. Played right, it can refresh them — leading to sharper play both mentally and physically. But it also is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it can lull a team to sleep. Without the competitive touches of play and the sharpening eat-or-be-eaten mentality, skills suffer even after only a few days off. Soccer players know this, and the Rapids learned the hard way Wednesday night that the latter is all too real a possibility, especially on the back end of a three-game road trip when they fell 2-0 to a streaking D.C. United club that is third in the East.

In the front, the Rapids offense continues to sputter. Lots of good possessions were wasted, faded into the D.C. night as Conor Casey and Tony Cascio couldn’t quite hookup. The two obviously haven’t had much time together to figure out just how they will play off each other, though Casey’s holdup play showed a touch of what the Rapids missed while he was sidelined. And both teams suffered the pitch, which was slippery after a couple days of rain at RFK stadium in east D.C.

Things get no easier for the Rapids as they return home to face first-place side Sporting K.C., but the Rapids must be hoping home is sweet as the road is long.

Martin Rivero, front, is congratulated by Kamani Hill after Rivero's goal on May 6 against FC Dallas.

With a team-leading three goals this season, Rapids forward Kamani Hill may just earn a starting spot — even if with an asterisk.

Hill likely will start alongside rookie Tony Cascio on Wednesday when the Rapids travel east to face DC United at 5:30 p.m. MT.

Hill was signed by Colorado on March 28, three games into the MLS season. Since then, he’s earned three goals as a reserve, including two after subbing on in the 20th minute against Chivas USA on April 28 (in the Rapids’ 4-0 victory). He also scored on April 1 against Chicago in a 2-0 victory.

His three tallies this season are tied with Omar Cummings and Jaime Castrillon for the team lead.

This week’s Rapids player-ratings come care of Kevin Villegas, a Denver native who has been following the Rapids since their inaugural season, plays midfield himself and works as a producer for a local advertising agency.

It’s possible Daniel Hernandez and Blas Perez both woke up on the wrong side of the bed Sunday morning. Maybe they didn’t get their two pieces of bacon, or their eggs were cooked wrong.

Hernandez was sent off in the 34th minute for accumulation of yellow cards, and Perez was shown a straight red for a studs-up challenge on Drew Moor. For the remainder of the game, the Rapids played poised, patient football.

They enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession, and found the back of the net in the 61st minute and 74th minute. Castrillon and Rivero, two key offseason acquisitions for the new Rapids front office, were the goal scorers. Brian Mullan was on the service side for both goals.

Nine games into the season and Oscar Pareja's Rapids lineup is still not settled because of injuries.

This week’s Rapids player-ratings come care of Kevin Villegas, a Denver native who has been following the Rapids since their inaugural season, plays midfield himself and works as a producer for a local advertising agency.

It’s often said that possession is everything in soccer. But as last night’s game between the Colorado Rapids and New England Revolution proves, the numbers that really matter at the end of the day are on the scoreboard.

In the imposed parity of Major League Soccer, no team goes on the road insisting that a point is good enough. But for a mid-week game on turf on the other side of the country, the Rapids might have had just that in mind.

What started with good possession ended with chances unfulfilled, led by bad finishing and a lack of a final pass. Add some tired legs into the equation, and it’s no wonder the Revs took all three.

Conor Casey subbed in for Omar Cummings on Saturday against Chivas USA. He won't do the same on Wednesday.

After Conor Casey went down last season in Seattle — for what he later learned was a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon injury — former Rapids coach Gary Smith got hot. Blame the Sounders’ reprehensible turf, he said.

“Honestly the surface was dreadful, absolutely dreadful,” Smith said last July. Seattle for that game put live, loose grass on top of its artificial turf. But it didn’t turn out well.

“I’m bitterly disappointed for Conor,” Smith said then. “He was in a terrific run of form, his goal return (ratio) to games is quite phenomenal. For us and him, we’re going to miss each other.”

Casey ended up missing the rest of the 2011 season, and the first seven games this season.